The Four Bandits and the small phoenix girl were now in the city of Grandeur. As usual, the small bird monster was still amazed by everything that happened to be in her way, whether it was by the large market, the theater, the dancers, or even more mundane things like the exotic trees. She only stopped her spree of fascination in front of the men guarding the manor of the Don of the mafia. They were standing there, looking menacingly in front of them, neither sparing a glance to the phoenix girl nor at the four bandits accompanying her.
"They remind me of Don Dahlia…" The small phoenix girl slowly moved away, slightly afraid.
"Don't mind them, let's go to the theater…"
They made their way to the inside of the large building which was currently mostly empty. The current show had a few dancers moving in a relative synch on a slow, melancholic melody. It wasn't surprising, as the more popular shows were kept for the evening, when people got out before eating.
The small team directly went to the manager who was as at his usual post, namely drowning his sorrow at the bar. The man was reportedly leaving his post only for his most basic needs. Teeny cleared her throat to attract his attention. He stumbled a bit as he turned around to look at the bandits.
"Oh hey, it's you kids… How are you doing?"
"Oh, we're doing fine, thank you." Teeny gestured toward Mini. "Our friend here considered performing, and we wanted to know what we could do about it."
"I see… The man stared at the phoenix girl for an awkward amount of time before the latter decided to hide from his gaze by hiding behind Vanilla's cape. "No, that won't do, sorry…" He took a large gulp from his drink. "You're too shy to expose yourself in public like that. That's too bad, 'cause an actual phoenix would have brought a lot of traffic, but if you want to perform, you'll first have to learn to bear the public's gaze, and from what I can see, you have some work to do in that domain."
Mini looked down. "This is going to be too hard for me…"
The man laughed good-heartedly and nearly collapsed. "Being a star performer requires an impressive amount of sweat and luck. Saki was a one in a million case." He wallowed on the bar and started whining. "One in a million… And now everybody wants nothing but her… And now I have to both please the public and get sure the performers are still happy… What can I do? WHAT CAN I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"
The small party slowly backed away from the man who was now wailing as loudly as his lungs allowed him to. Curiously, the remainder of the theater ignored him, as if it was just a background noise amongst others. Once outside, the Four Bandits and Mini found themselves a small corner away from all this agitation to start discussing the future of their partner. They didn't spare a second glance at the thugs that were standing at the entrance of the street.
"That man was scary!" Mini wasn't exactly happy with the interview, and gladly voiced her concern.
"Unfortunately… He's right. As soon as you notice people are looking at you, you tend to back down and make yourself as small as possible as if you wanted to disappear."
"Muuuuh…" Mini emitted a low whine.
"It's just a question of being confident. I wonder who we could ask advices from to…" No member of the group noticed the thugs approaching with knives as Teeny pondered that question. "The don of the mafia?"
The thugs froze. In the meantime, Gob grabbed a random small stone from the ground in her hand. "Mmmh, maybe. I mean, I remember him telling me that you have to be really confident when you get interrogated by the government's men to not let slip anything." She crushed the small stone she had grabbed. "He called it shoot spa… chutzpah I think?"
"Oh, that reminds me, I'll have to see with him to renew the liquor license agreement for the vampire pub. Those things are only available for a limited period apparently. It's kinda annoying."
Several of the thugs wet themselves in fear. One of them even fainted.
"Yeah, before you ask, I'll help you for the next delivery."
"Thank you!"
Teeny sighed. "We're getting sidetracked here… Besides, the obvious decision would be to ask Saki herself."
"Saki! Kirasu!"
Papi reflexively placed her hands in front of her mouth as if she just had said a bad word, and could feel everyone's judgmental gaze.
"Sorry… that took me like a hiccup."
"Well, I know Saki's back at the Pocket Castle, so why don't we go meet her specifically?"
The small team agreed, and left the dark corner they were in. Teeny's nose scrunched up in disgust as they passed by the thugs who were all unconscious from terror.
"Did someone have a little problem?"
Vanilla reflexively raised her hands. "Not me this time!"
"Foooorcibly steaaal your heaaaart!"
The bar was filled to the brim as Alma Elma was singing in front of everyone. The succubus queen had taken a liking to this art form after the Purple Sabbath show: it was an art as good as any to express herself, and, just like any other she worked in, she excelled in it. Her melodious voice was filling the room and entrancing everyone present. When the Four Bandits and Mini entered, the performance was ending and everyone present clapped loudly.
"Ten minutes break! Our next performer will come soon! Please stay tuned!"
Everybody started chatting while the small group made their way to a place near the stage, where they could see Saki patiently standing with her microphone.
"Hey there, what can Saki do for you?"
"We want the secret behind being a superstar!" Mini exclaimed herself proudly.
Saki chuckled gently until she realized the small phoenix was serious. "Well, it is a lot of work you see. You have to practice your manners on the scene, your voice and your body a lot. This is what helps you distinguish yourself from all the others."
Mini looked down once more. "It's so much effort..."
"Awwww… Don't be like that, it reminds me of Eva! Besides, hard work is part of what makes one great, but so is natural talent and knowing the right people! You two can confirm!"
Both Papi and Vanilla nodded, slightly ashamed: Papi was one of the most skilled blacksmith that existed on this world thanks to unexplained innate talents, and Vanilla could easily make herself a place in the cutthroat world of trading thanks to the hero's own network. Mini, however, looked even more depressed.
"I'll never manage to do all that…"
"Certainly not with that attitude. It just looks like you're missing some confidence. You should work on that first!"
"Oh, you mean confidence like miss succubitch there!"
Mini pointed at Morrigan, the youngest of the Lilith Sisters, who was near the scene and in a discussion with Alma Elma about their performances.
"No, it's a bad example. And where did you learn this word?"
The small phoenix proudly exclaimed her answer. "From Amira!" Fortunately, it only brought a few frowns from the closest tables.
The next second, Morrigan inhaled and started singing as a music started playing.
"Sometiiiiimes, I feel I've got to-"
While the blue haired succubus voice sounded less melodious than Alma Elma's, it still had a certain charm to it. Besides, the rhythm of the music supporting her was a bit faster, done with strange makinas. The result was surprisingly catchy, and most people tapped their feet or shook their head back and forth on said rhythm.
However, after a minute, it looked like the succubus was getting carried away and was more screaming than singing, to the trouble of everyone's hearing.
"I GIVE YOU ALL A GIRL COULD GIVE YOUUUUU!"
The shrill voice was only amplified by the micro that was saturating and now giving a powerful feedback. Thankfully, it ended barely a few seconds later. Clapping was almost as loud as for Alma Elma, but it was too fast and rigid, as if people were more afraid than appreciative.
Saki turned back toward the small group at the end of the performance.
"Sooo, no, being confident like her is not something you want to be. What you want is to be able to be proud of your skills."
"But I don't have any skills to be proud of…"
"See? This is what I'm talking about. You know, Saki also had difficulties when she started. She was a succubus, but she wasn't as sexy as many of them, she had no skills in magic, and she certainly couldn't do martial arts. But I trained my voice and I became confident enough to reach the largest stage. What I did was simple: I never gave it any thought before trying! If I failed, I could try again later somewhere else." She took a pose. "So once you think you're ready, just step in and forget everything!"
"Yeah!" Mini was carried by the succubus' words and flew away at high speed while gracefully dodging anyone in her way. She got out of the castle in one smooth motion.
"Sooo… Do you need anything else from Saki?"
"No, thank you for taking your time to help us." Teeny respectfully bowed. "We will take our leaveD."
"…Saki will take her leave too." The succubus was staring at the scene with a look of pure horror in the eyes. The small monsters turned to see Eden getting on stage. Only a few persons were still present, mostly monsters that were too drunk to pass out or hadn't suffered the bad luck to assist to one of the seraph's representation.
"LIIIIIIIGHT OOOOOOOOOF LIIIIIIIIIIIGHTSSSSSS!"
Luckily, the Four Bandits had managed to escape the Pocket Castle before the ear-shattering shockwave reached them.
The group of young monsters was now standing near Grangold. Once again, Mini was enthusiastically flapping her wings around…
…For a whole five minutes before she realized that she was in the same dead end she was in at the beginning. Namely, she still had no idea how she could help the community by doing anything else than using her feathers to revive people. And in record time, she was back to sulking again.
Her four companions were also starting to despair. They were willing to support their friend to face a challenge they never really had to deal with themselves, but were running out of ideas on how they could do it.
They decided to travel to Gold Port. However, they had ran out of harpy feathers, and couldn't teleport there. They shrugged it off, and decided they could as well travel on foot for once rather than just get in the city to buy one.
After calling back Gob who had run several hundred of meters ahead in that short time span, the group started travelling at a strolling pace. Their travel was uneventful, as the occasional monster appearing from behind a rock to mug them was dispatched in a lightning strike.
However, signs of troubles started appearing when they arrived in sight of the coastal town: The city was emitting more smoke than the chimneys of a settlement like that should. The monsters came to the obvious conclusion: The town was on fire.
As they rushed toward the coastal settlement, the source of the fire became obvious: A band of marauding monsters had come from the sea to attack the town. The first one that stepped toward the party was an elder scylla holding a cutlass in each hands, laughing maniacally. She stopped for a second as she saw the small party.
"Ooooh oh oh! New toys for that evening! The captain will be happy!" She raised her swords and got instantly reduced to a quivering mess by a salvo of lightning bolts, courtesy of Vanilla. The four bandits and the phoenix girl rushed in the city and noticed an alarming amount of wounded people, humans and monsters alike.
Teeny and Mini tended to everyone they encountered, Teeny using her items available and her knowledge of service to restore people, and Mini giving a few of her own feathers for the more critical cases. The phoenix girl looked worried each time she gave one, afraid it wouldn't work, and was overjoyed each time the victim rose back.
In the meantime, Vanilla, Papi and Gob were pushing back the sea monsters that were attacking the civilians. Gob knocked back another scylla that was charging them with so much strength that the monster's unconscious body ended up falling back into the harbor on the other side of the town. Papi lunged at a mermaid with her claws and slashed her opponent stomach until the poor monster fled in a panic. Vanilla zapped several other sea monsters at once with her lightning.
Their arrival didn't go unnoticed, and soon, the plundering monsters regrouped and started organizing themselves against the interlopers. The three monsters couldn't see the captain, but they could hear her from behind the monster's line.
"They dare stand in front of us! Muhahahah! Annihilate them!"
With a war cry of their own, the pirates rushed at the party. Gob and Papi steadied themselves in front of Vanilla, ready to protect her. As the pirates charged, the small vampire casted another salvo of lightning bolt, shocking a few of them, while the dragon breathed out a powerful stream of fire and incapacitated a few of them while slowing down others.
The pirates weren't without their own tools however, and soon, cannonballs and water spells started flying in the party's direction.
Papi and Gob stood fast, and pushed back the first monsters that stepped in, but their opponents were too numerous, and soon, they found themselves surrounded. Vanilla tried to keep monsters away by casting spells after spells, but even as she knocked down several targets, the three bandits were just getting overwhelmed. Gob didn't manage to dodge an attack that came from behind, and while it wasn't enough to stun her, her movements became slow and dazed. A few more attacks from the numerous monsters knocked her down. Papi soon followed suit after taking a cannonball head on. And when Vanilla transformed into a small swarm of bats to fly away, she found herself pinned down by a net.
As the pirates surrounded their victims, a behemoth manta girl with a large pirate hat hovered forward.
"Muhahaha! More slaves for us! Take them aboard!"
"Noooooo!"
"What?!" The captain turned back to see Mini and Teeny arrive. The Phoenix girl charged forward like a burning spear and rammed straight into her, knocking her back several yards. Most monsters were pushed back by the heat and moved away. When they took a look, they could see the three monsters they had beaten get up thanks to feathers the phoenix girl had left on her trajectory, then their slithery friend offer them refreshing herbs.
Just as the pirates recovered from the phoenix's assault, the four bandits jumped back into the fray with their own war cry. The behemoth girl ground her teeth from frustration.
"Damn it! Not again! HUAAAAAH! HOT! HOT!"
She was so engrossed she didn't notice Mini breathing another stream of fire at her until the first flames reached her. She flew back over the sea and shouted for everyone to retreat.
"Mark my words! This isn't over yet!"
The pirates left to everyone's relief, but most of the town was still heavily burning. Mini rose up and started glowing stronger and soon, the fires from the buildings spiraled towards her to get absorbed. When it was over, she got back into the town and was greeted by her exhausted friends, as well as the grateful claims of the population.
"Thanks, Mini, you've been a lifesaver."
The small phoenix girl's eyes started sparkling. She then started happily jumping around left and right like a hyper excited child.
"I finally found my call! I will travel the world and help people! I will save everyone around the world!"
"Wait…"
It was already too late. The small phoenix had already flown away and was disappearing near the horizon as she apparently started chasing the settling sun, leaving a much confused party behind.
"Do you think we should do something about it?"
Teeny swallowed loudly. "…Just warn Mephisto. She always knows what to do."